As Holy Week begins and we celebrate Our's Lord's surrender to the will of His Father, let us ponder the depth of our own surrender to His will by reflecting on the message contained in this beautiful poem.
The Sorrowful Mysteries, traditionally prayed on Tuesday and Friday year-round, are a familiar element of Our Lady’s rosary. During the solemn season of Lent, however, the Sorrowful Mysteries in particular take on a deeper, more spiritually challenging significance – making them an even more valuable tool for our Lenten prayer and contemplation.
In 2012, at the closing of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops they turned to Mary, Star of the New Evangelization and reminded us to entrust ourselves to her:
Joseph of Nazareth has been a trusted confidant, beloved father figure, and favorite saint to me over a span of many years. Researching his life, I am reassured; I have chosen my mentor well. The same sterling characteristics – faithful, compassionate, humble, hard-working, obedient, strong, protective – reveal themselves over and over again in his story. Those, and countless other positive adjectives, make up the portrait of a righteous man whose life was centered on God and family.
Helen Keller with Anne Sullivan in 1888 (Photo courtesy of Wikicommons)By Ellen Mongan
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks, as if they were great and noble.” Who do you think said that? St. Therese, the little flower of Jesus? St. Teresa of Calcutta? St. Teresa of Avila? No! The correct answer is Helen Keller.
Authentic femininity is alive and well in the beautiful “Aloha” state of Hawaii thanks to this lovely group of ladies who are enrolled in the Women of Grace® Foundation Study that meets at Resurrection of the Lord parish in Waipahu, Hawaii.
Declared Venerable by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II on December 20, 1999, Concepcion Cabrera de Armida (Conchita) (1862-1937), born in Mexico, into a pious Catholic family, was a married woman, mother of nine children, foundress of the five Works of the Cross and a great mystic of the Mexican Church.
In the eyes of the world, Ash Wednesday is the day when people with “dirty foreheads” appear in supermarkets and cafes and order fish instead of steak. But in the eyes of the faithful, this day is the beginning of a season designed to make the weak-kneed-but-willing into true champions.
Believe it or not, we were created for happiness. It’s supposed to be our normal state. As St. John of the Cross teaches, we’re supposed to be happy to the point of “always walking in festivity, inwardly and outwardly.” If this is the case, why are we so unhappy?
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